Very Smart Brothas' Damon Young explains how his mother's illness has led him to re-evaluate the religious practice.

... Much of this love and support has come in the form of prayer. People praying for her, praying with her, and even suggesting special prayers for situations like this. In fact, tonight I searched for "mom" in Gmail and looked at emails and Gchats I received around the time people first found out she was ill. Every single person who contacted me mentioned something about prayer. While this has definitely -- definitely -- been appreciated by my mother and the rest of my family, this situation has reinforced the disconnect I've always had with prayer in general and prayer specifically for ill people in particular.

Now, I'm (obviously) not a theological scholar. But, I do know that Christianity, Islam, and Judaism all offer their true believers some form of an afterlife. And, in each case, the afterlife is a much, much, much better version of Earth.

If Christians, Jews, and Muslims believe this to be true, why pray for a sick person's health to get better?

I’ve had four bone-fide miracles in my life. One was the healing of my wife’s back when I laid hands on her. It’s a complicated story, but the bottom line is that it was as if it was not actually me doing it.

Anyway, 15 years later I told my pastor at my new church about it and he said something similar happened to him.

As a pastor, part of his job is to visit and pray for the sick and dying. Well, he admitted to having consternation about it because sometimes it is the Lord’s will that a person die. After all, we ALL die. He clarified that sometimes his heart was not into praying that the person live. He felt that the person was going to die and he needed to pray for other related things - the family, etc.

But there was one guy. He was going to die, no doubt about it. But the pastor had the same “experience” I did. It’s a weird “knowing” that is hard to put into words. His prayer, like mine, felt like it was not really him doing it. But he, like in my case, felt absolutely compelled to do it.

Bottom line is that the guy lived.

As Christians we can get complacent. But the Lord’s will WILL be done. And when you see it before your very eyes it is many things. It is humbling. It is empowering. It is earth shaking. But more than any of those things, it reminds you of just how temporal and only “partially real” our life is compared to the REAL world of eternity.

I pray for the sick and dying, and so do a lot of other freepers. I know that when I had Hodgkins disease some time back, and was undergoing chemotherapy, I really appreciated the prayers of my friends, and felt that they were a big help.

I am not under the illusion that praying for someone means that I can determine their fate. Basically, I pray for the best outcome for the person and their family, as God wills. God knows best, whether it is a miraculous cure or the grace to truly repent of one’s sins before dying, and to compose the soul in preparation for the journey to the next life.

It is not Ours to Give or Take
This Life is His to Give and Take
It is not up to us to determine whether
we are better off Alive or Dead

Be that as it may,
We are under command to pray for the sick

James 5:14-15 ESV
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Jewish tradition ordains that whenever the Torah is read one is granted a special and uniquely opportune moment to invoke blessing for those in need of divine intervention. From time immemorial it has therefore been the custom to recite a “Mi Sheberach” (prayer for the sick) on behalf of people who are ill.

Oh Allah! The Sustainer of Mankind! Remove the illness, cure the disease. You are the One Who cures. There is no cure except Your cure. Grant us a cure that leaves no illness. (Recommended to touch the area of pain with the right hand while reciting this supplication.)

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